Does in fact lean, and it leans a lot. So does the big Cathedral next to it. The tower has been stopped from continuing to lean and now forty tourists per thirty minutes are allowed to climb up to the top. (not us - reservations required way in advance). The cathedral is undergoing serious work to shore it up right now.
Inside the Basilica, no ordinary cathedral here, was one fancy dan pulpit. carved in marble from 1301 to 1310 by Giovianno Pisanno. Everything carved represents a faith foundational belief or Bible story. The details are detailed. And one of the repeated stories in paintings, frescos and in marble relief is the killing of the innocents that precipitated the flight of Mary and Joseph to Egypt. Well this story is told here as well.
Altar too was somewhat fancy.
And like the D'uomo in Florence, there was a baptistry building.
We got to go up to the upper story in this one and while we were up a man began singing down below. Quite impressive acoustics and very beautiful effect.
From the second level of the baptistry I got this photo of the leaning tower and leaning Basilica. The front of the Basilica is pretty fancy too.
My favorite building in the Pisa complex was the Composanto Monumental (Monumental Cemetery). This was a huge structure built over dirt from Golgotha brought back by boat by the Second Crusade and put under the building so that people buried here would be buried in sacred soil. This is just a fraction of the size. It is actually quite large as each of the two lateral sides are very long.
The building was slightly damaged during WWII by an errant Allied bomb but is now repaired. The frescos inside are quite faded and are peeling off the walls in many places but are slowly being restored. They tell stories of heaven, hell, saints, Bible stories and heroic acts of crusaders.
Around the room are various crypts and funeral urns over 1000 years old and into the 20th century. There were statutes, busts and all kinds of memorandum added by various nobles and churchmen alike. I particularly liked this of a Italian military(?) man who died in 1920. Undoubtedly a hero from WWI.
There was no mincing the matter of death either, note the skull and cross bones at the lower half of this tomb in the floor. A coat of arms is on the upper half. There were many tombs in the floor.
And a Crusader, I think, lies under this stone, in Holy Land dirt. Makes for a good story anyway, and I am sticking with it. If not this one, then certainly one we walked over.
This is one well visited site. Cannot overstate, well visited. From around the world and taking pictures galore.
A very common pose was to act as if one were holding the tower up or pushing it over. Here you can see a couple of people doing one or the other.
And here a family doing both. Patt and I did neither.
So much to see and do, looks like fun. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBro Mark